Treemonisha

Treemonisha (1911) is an opera by American ragtime composer Scott Joplin. It is sometimes referred to as a "ragtime opera", though Joplin did not refer to it as such and it encompasses a wide range of musical styles. The music of Treemonisha includes an overture and prelude, along with various recitatives, choruses, small ensemble pieces, a ballet, and a few arias. The opera was largely unknown before its first complete performance in 1972. Joplin was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1976 for Treemonisha. The performance was called a "semimiracle" by music historian Gilbert Chase, who said Treemonisha "bestowed its creative vitality and moral message upon many thousands of delighted listeners and viewers" when it was recreated. The musical style of the opera is the popular romantic one of the early 20th century. It has been described as "charming and piquant and ... deeply moving", with elements of black folk songs and dances, including a kind of pre-blues music, spirituals, and a call-and-response style scene featuring a preacher and congregation. The opera celebrates African-American music and culture while stressing that education is the salvation of African Americans. The heroine and symbolic educator is Treemonisha, who runs into trouble with a local band of conjurers, who kidnap her.

Treemonisha (1911) is an opera by American ragtime composer Scott Joplin. It is sometimes referred to as a "ragtime opera", though Joplin did not refer to it as such and it encompasses a wide range of musical styles. The music of Treemonisha includes an overture and prelude, along with various recitatives, choruses, small ensemble pieces, a ballet, and a few arias. The opera was largely unknown before its first complete performance in 1972. Joplin was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1976 for Treemonisha. The performance was called a "semimiracle" by music historian Gilbert Chase, who said Treemonisha "bestowed its creative vitality and moral message upon many thousands of delighted listeners and viewers" when it was recreated. The musical style of the opera is the popular romantic one of the early 20th century. It has been described as "charming and piquant and ... deeply moving", with elements of black folk songs and dances, including a kind of pre-blues music, spirituals, and a call-and-response style scene featuring a preacher and congregation. The opera celebrates African-American music and culture while stressing that education is the salvation of African Americans. The heroine and symbolic educator is Treemonisha, who runs into trouble with a local band of conjurers, who kidnap her.

United States

Excerpts from the opera were performed in 1971 at New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Canada

In June 2023, Scott Joplin's Treemonisha - A Musical Reimagining produced by Volcano Theatre Company, in association with Canadian Opera Company, Soulpepper, and Moveable Beast has its world premiere at the Bluma Appel Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in Toronto. The staging featured orchestrations and arrangements by Jessie Montgomery and Jannina Norpoth, with book and libretto adapted by Leah-Simone Bowen.

Europe

Europe first saw staged versions in Venice (1979), Turin (1980) and Helsinki (1981). The German premiere took place at the Stadttheater Gießen in 1984, another stage versions could be seen at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden in April 2015 and in Rosenheim in February 2019. The UK premiere took place in 1990 at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley. There were four performances in August 2019 at the Arcola Theatre, London (UK), as part of the Grimeborn Festival. A performance of Treemonisha was staged at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, France, in 2010. Prominent members of the cast were Grace Bumbry und Willard White. Further productions took place in Prague (2003) and at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg (2026).

Africa

In 2022, the 28-member Isango Ensemble of Cape Town, South Africa, premiered a reimagined version of Treemonisha at Théâtre de Caen in Caen, France. Directed by Mark Dornford-May and Paulina Malefane, with music direction by Mandisi Dyantyis, and choreography by Lungelo Ngamlana, this production of Treemonisha transposes Joplin's score to marimba and features musicians and singers in dual roles.

Adaptations

Conductor Andre Kostelanetz recorded orchestral selections from Treemonisha in 1976 for Columbia Records. In 1997, Aaron Robinson conducted Treemonisha: The Concert Version at the Rockport Opera House in Rockport, Maine, with a new libretto by Judith Kurtz Bogdanove. In June 2008 Sue Keller produced and arranged an abridged orchestral-choral rendition of Treemonisha. The production was commissioned by the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation. A new arrangement for singers and brass band (4 trumpets, 4 trombones, French horn, tuba) had been commissioned from German composer Stefan Beyer. A suite from Treemonisha arranged by Gunther Schuller was performed as part of The Rest Is Noise season at London's Southbank Centre in 2013. The Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Tyehimba Jess, Olio, deals at length with Treemonisha in a series of fictionalized interviews between a Black WWI veteran and Pullman Company porter and a variety of characters said to have known Joplin personally. In one interview, Joplin's widow Lottie describes the opera as "…more than a little bit of haint. But even more than that… she was alive."

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1358955921 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.